James Chen, a notable veteran fighting game commentator who has called many incredible matches, has a rich history of letting the waterworks flow at the conclusion of the annual Evolution Championship Series tournament. Chen's tears are derided by less evolved observers as the work of a man who can't rein in his emotions, but they underscore the fact that Evo is, without question, the best esports competition by a wide margin.

That's not a slight against other high-stakes tournaments, such as the Halo World Championship, League of Legends World Championship, or Rocket League Championship, which have produced several memorable moments throughout their histories. Evo simply places the fighting game community—an international collective of faces, heels, and tweeners also known as the FGC—on its highest stage. And with that comes the laughs and drama that other major professional video game tournaments cannot duplicate.

I recognize that it's incredibly pretentious of me to say that Evo's matches are the ultimate life allegory, but there's a truth nugget in that melodramatic take. Evo features competitors facing off in a very personal game of one-on-one combat to determine who can best execute under pressure until victory is achieved. And, if a player stumbles at any point along the way, the journey becomes that much harder as he or she must escape the confines of the Loser's Bracket.

The showcase is the closest thing we have to a pure meritocracy; fighting game acumen is based on an individual player's skill and drive. In fact, the "get gud" concept is the FGC's version of "pull yourself by your bootstraps," but without the massive socio-economic blind spots that right-wing adherents carry to justify awful politics. Evo takes that idea of overcoming your own limitations, and your competition's rabid attacks, and places it on a platform in which thousands compete for large-money pots and, more importantly, the idea of being the very best in their chosen fields. This human drama, one that plays out internally and externally, stirs the emotions like no other esport.

Take Taiwan's Chia-hung "E.T." Lin, for example, a stalwart King of Fighters competitor who came close to taking home the gold in 2014. This year, E.T. once again grinded his way into the Grand Finals, but pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat with one of the most hype Evo conclusions in the event's history. And who didn't feel something move within their chests when E.T., overwhelmed with exuberance, collapsed to the floor?

Likewise, few, if any, esports moments will top the feels associated with Evo 2015's Gamerbee storyline, a Rocky-like tale of an underdog who battled out of Street Fighter IV's Loser's Bracket into the Winner's pool. Gamerbee fell short of the Grand Finals prize, but his wonderfully strategic Adon and Elena play in some of the most nerve-wracking sets ever seen on an Evo stage made his run legendary—and the stakes were all on his face. Gamerbee's reaction to a soul-sucking arcade stick malfunction, and his fiancee running on stage to greet him with a much-needed hug after his heart-wrenching loss to Momochi, made him the people's champ.

With its participants' passions on display over the course of three long summer days, Evo is the best video game competition you'll find on television or Twitch. So, I don't ask you to forgive Mr. Chen for his tears. No, I implore you to understand those tears, as they represent all that we love about fighting games. As Tokido, the Evo 2017 Street Fighter V champion stated after this Grand Finals victory over the young scrapper Punk, "fighting games are good."

And, as James Chen reiterated in the closing moments of this year's show, Evo is love.

About the Author

For more than a decade, Jeffrey L. Wilson has penned gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for a variety of publications, including 1UP, 2D-X, The Cask, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. He now brings his knowledge and skillset to PCMag as Senior Analyst.
When he isn't staring at a monitor (or two) and churning out Web... See Full Bio

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